Vanderbilt's Reputation

[ConfusedJunior08]

Hey everyone

What is everyone's view of Vanderbilt from across the country.

As far as your opinions on the school based on where you live...

- academics
- prestige
- social life
- etc

Also, what schools would you compare it to?


Thanks

[MomofWildChild]

Do a search. There have been some great summaries in the last week concerning Vanderbilt and how it's reputation is on the rise.

It is an excellent school with an excellent reputation. It is regarded as extremely prestigious in the south, and is gaining more recognition in the northeast.

It is similar to Rice but with stronger athletics (SEC) and a large frat scene. It is a notch above Tulane, in my opinion. It has an excellent medical school and law school.

[mini]

It is named after a rich person.

The number of people who think of it where I live...well, they don't. It isn't on the radar screen.

[curiouser]

I concur with MOWC...Vanderbilt is a great school.

Its' sciences programs are top notch, an excellent pre-med advisement program, and it has a terrific music school as well. Nashville is a pretty cool little city and I sometimes wish my D would have gone there. It is relatively preppy, although that is a generalization. A friend of D's went there and believes it to be a pretty tolerant place (he happens to be gay).

When we went there to visit, although I'd heard much about the preppiness and "girls with pearls" vibe, we certainly didn't feel that.

Their reputation is definitely rising, although its professional schools (med & law) have long been ranked very very high.

[toneranger]

Middle Atlantic states here.
Reputation is on the way up.
Used to be a southern regional school but is expanding.
Folks over 40 who know the place associate it with frats and rich southern bells, and conservative politics. Or a rich party school. It's changing but it takes a while for everyone to catch up. Still, the southern culture is there. A neighbor reports she dresses up for football games and goes with a "date." Unheard of for us northern types.
I see it as academically equivalent to Rice, Tufts, Boston College, Emory.
Seems like a good balance of social life and academics. Not for intellectual, U Chicago types though...at least that's what I've heard from the kids I know who go there.

[drizzit]

One son looked at Vanderbilt fairly seriously and we are from the rockies but before they sent him a pile of mail he hadn't heard of it other than the sports teams.

A great school with a very strong regional presence but not a real strong national presence, at least in the West. Just my take.

[rubio]

Several years ago, then President Gee, announced he was going to recruit Jews to raise the SAT scores.

[Tim_ND08]

must have worked:

As far as some statistics on the admitted students for the Vanderbilt class of 2012:

* 23% overall admit rate (Regular and Early Decision I & II combined)
* SAT middle 50%: (CR & M) 1380 - 1540
* ACT middle 50%: 31-34
* 92% of all admitted students were in top 10

[rubio]

How odd of God, to choose the Jews! by Ogden Nash

[Flossem]

Vandy is an excellent school. That's why I applied

[midmo]

Yes, mini, it was named after a rich person. So was Stanford, and about a hundred others. Your point was....what?

[frazzled1]

While I have no idea what rubio is getting at above (???), Vanderbilt's Hillel is a thriving organization on campus, located in a lovely facility (complete with a vegetarian kosher restaurant). Here's a link: Shalom Vanderbilt!

And another link, about the incoming class of 2012: Vanderbilt News Service Some highlights: Vandy had a 23.1 percent admit rate this year, the middle 50 percent for SAT scores was 1380-1540, and 30.2 percent of those admitted are students of color.

My daughter has found some outstanding academic and service opportunities at Vanderbilt, wonderful professors and mentoring, and an appreciation for another area of the US and its culture. The most apparent drawback seems to be how happily people who are uninformed about this school persist in their opinions. But whatcha gonna do?

[rubio]

Exactly what I said Frazzled 1. Gee announced about 5 or 6 years ago he was going to recruit Jews to raise the SAT scores. High SAT scores means more desirability, no? His implication was if we want higher scores, we need the Jews to get them.

As a Jew, I thought it was offensive, as did all the newspapers that reported it.

The follow up is just a little poem, quite famous.

I know of 4 Unies Gee has been President in the last 20 years, so I no longer know if he is still there.

[mini]

"Yes, mini, it was named after a rich person. So was Stanford, and about a hundred others. Your point was....what?"

My point was exactly what I said. As far as reputation, that is all that 99% of the population out here knows about it (well, maybe a little more for its sports teams, and maybe a little less, if they don't know that Vanderbilt was a rich person.) Other than that, it doesn't HAVE a reputation where I live.

[jazzymom]

In CA where I live, it doesn't seem to be on a lot of students' radar due to distance, but that may be changing with savvy applicants knowing they have to cast a wider net. I think it would tend to attract sports-minded students at our h.s., the students looking for the Trojan (USC) experience: private college with passionate Div. 1 sports scene, hallowed (and often athletic-oriented) traditions, along with strong academics, striking architecture and gorgeous landscaping. And mild weather. I think of it as a USC with more students from the NE attending.